The 201 women sent home for pregnancies make up less than one per cent of female soldiers deployed on operations.

There were 282,520 deployments on operations to Afghanistan and Iraq before December 2013, only eight per cent of whom were women.

Brig Moffat said: “It’s a miniscule number. This is a very, very small fraction of service personnel. I don’t think it’s an issue. Given the length of time British personnel were deployed and the numbers of women deployed these are very small numbers.

“If only one per cent are discovered to be pregnant, the purchase and administration of pregnancy tests for however many thousands of women deployed, as well as the insult and intrusion some women would feel at this, to my mind would be disproportionate to the issue.”

She said: “I don’t think the MoD would want to go down the line of barring women from employment in any area of the armed forced on the basis that they might get pregnant.

“My view is that all personnel, both men and women, should be judged on their capability not on their gender. Up until a woman is discovered to be pregnant and provided she’s passed all the necessary tests, she is capable.

“If a woman was told you can’t do a job we think you’re qualified for because you might get pregnant, that’s just wrong. It’s almost like saying to a man we don’t think you’re empathetic enough so you can’t be a nurse.”

The majority of the women who were sent home from deployment had conceived before they left, but a small number may have become pregnant during their deployment.

An MoD spokesman said: "Pregnant women are not allowed to be deployed on operations. The small numbers of personnel who discover that they are pregnant on operations are returned at the first convenient opportunity.

“The MoD does not encourage or condone sexual relationships in theatre; our personnel are expected to behave in accordance with the Armed Forces values and standards at all times.”